Venkat,

Su.Ra has translated malayALam novels [thagazhi's I think] into thamizh. I do not think he has written in malayALam, I maybe wrong.

pAvannan is not a kannadiga AFAIK. He is a native of Pondicherry.

I am also curious to find out which character in mOhamuL reflects MVV. My Guess is that the singer Gopalan in Madras [is the name correct?].

What do you guys think about authors making their friends as characters in their books?

I understand that thi.jA has done it in many of his novels.